Shaping social norms: how experience affects moral judgments

Last registered on April 06, 2026

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Shaping social norms: how experience affects moral judgments

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0017858

Initial registration date

March 31, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

April 06, 2026, 7:50 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

EMERIC HENRY

Affiliation

Sciences Po

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Roberto Galbiati

PI Affiliation

Sciences Po

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PI Name

Nicolas Jacquemet

PI Affiliation

University Paris 1

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Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2026-04-15

End date

2026-06-01

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how personal experience with a decision influences individuals’ moral judgments of others’ behavior in a charitable giving context. The project builds on the idea that individuals strategically manage their self-image, including through the avoidance of payoff-relevant information, and introduces a “coherence principle,” In the online experiment we propose, participants are randomly assigned to the role of passive or active observers. Passive observers will evaluate others’ donation decisions before making their own donation choice, while active observers will make a donation decision first and subsequently evaluate others. We will also vary the access of participants to the information on the NGO to which they can donate. The study is designed to assess whether facing a similar decision affects judgments of pro-social versus selfish behavior, and whether information avoidance during one’s own decision persists when judging others.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Galbiati, Roberto, EMERIC HENRY and Nicolas Jacquemet. 2026. "Shaping social norms: how experience affects moral judgments." AEA RCT Registry. April 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17858-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We have 4 treatments:
T1: Active observer treatment. Participants must make a donation choice, described below. They are told that their actions will be observed by another participant in the experiment (without specifying what this participant does). In a second stage, they judge the action of a randomly matched participant. We specify that this player knew that he would be observed.
• T2: Passive observer treatment. The order is reversed compared to the active observer treatment. First a judgement is made on the action of a randomly matched participant. Then the player makes the donation decision and is told her action will be observed.
• T3-T4: same treatments as those described above, but where the participants are offered the possibility to see the identity of the NGO in the donation decision.

Intervention Start Date

2026-04-15

Intervention End Date

2026-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The main outcome of interest is the judgment by observers

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Judgments of others actions

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Decision to hide identity of the NGO

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The experiment will be run using an online panel administered by the LEEP in Paris 1 univeristy. It will be programmed in O-tree.
Subjects first respond to a survey on socio-demographic characteristics. The initial questions also include survey items designed to measure the level of altruism. The answers to these questions will be used as predictors of whether participants are likely to donate.

The users are then allocated to 4 treatment groups.
• T1: Active observer treatment. Participants must make a donation choice, described below. They are told that their actions will be observed by another participant in the experiment (without specifying what this participant does). In a second stage, they judge the action of a randomly matched participant (i.e donation decision of another active observer). We specify that this player knew that he would be observed.
• T2: Passive observer treatment. The order is reversed compared to the active observer treatment. First a judgement is made on the action of a randomly matched participant. Then the player makes the donation decision and is told her action will be observed.
• T3-T4: same treatments as those described above, but where the participants are offered the possibility to see the identity of the NGO in the donation decision.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

random allocation to treatments (rotation done by the computer)

Randomization Unit

individual level

Was the treatment clustered?